Denville asked to slow down

DENVILLE TWP. - Emphasizing the increasing
number of vehicles traveling through their neighborhood at high
speeds, a group of residents from the Stillwater Lagoon section of
Indian Lake attended the Township Council meeting Tuesday, Oct. 17,
to request speed bumps and stop signs at key locations in the
area.

Township officials responded by pointing out
the offenders could be residents of the neighborhood and added
state approvals are needed to make changes in road signs or to add
speed bumps.

Mayor Gene Feyl reported discussions had
been held with the police chief and administration officials about
speeders throughout the township.

As a result, the mayor said, one option
under consideration is dropping the speed limit in all lake
communities, where roads tend to be narrow and curvy with limited
off-street parking, to 20 miles an hour.

Jumping
Pedestrians

"We are having a problem with speeding cars
and an influx of children in the area," said Maria Newe, a Sunset
Trail resident, who presented a petition signed by residents
seeking the traffic controls to the council.

"It's gotten progressively worse over the
past two years. We don't want to wait until the point that someone
is injured to have some action taken.

"The problem has become more alarming since
more children in the neighborhood often play on the roads," she
said.

When walking her dog, Newe said she often
has to jump out of the way onto other people's property to avoid
being struck by speeding cars. Elderly people who walk or push
wheelchairs are especially at risk because they can't get out of
the way quick enough.

"When you think about it, there's lives at
stake on all these roads," Newe said.

In an area with narrow roads, on-street
parking, and no sidewalks, the result is often property damage
caused by residents jumping onto their neighbors' lawns and hedges
to escape speeding vehicles, she said.

The speeding cars and in some cases, large
trucks have been causing the bulk of the property damage, despite
the enforcement of a four-ton speed limit for Franklin
Road.

"A semi-truck came through and took down my
neighbor's fence," said Newe.

She also mentioned that fellow Sunset Trail
resident Phil Persson has repeatedly had his front hedge damaged by
passing vehicles.

"My hedge is bit by bit being knocked down
from cars because the road is narrow," agreed Persson. "But it's
also being knocked down by people having to jump into the hedge to
avoid being hit."

Persson said none of the drivers appear to
stop where Forest and Sunset Trail intersect.

"It's not just kids," he added. "It's a lot
of adults. Even the Denville school buses are going over 25 miles
per hour."

Newe told the council speeding occurs not
just during rush hour but at all times.

A lot of the speeding comes from cut-through
traffic, which comes down Sunset and up Forest Trail to avoid the
light at North Shore and Franklin Road, Newe said.

The areas for the requested stop signs and
speed bumps include Sunset Trail at Forest Trail, Sunset Trail at
Tomahawk Trail, Tomahawk Trail at Sunset Trail, Forest Trail at
Sunset Trail, and Sunset Trail at North Shore Road.

"We had talked about this at the last
workshop, and I know that the (police) chief is not a fan of speed
bumps unless it can be identified as a definite cut-through for
commuter traffic," said Council President James McCloskey. "If it's
neighborhood traffic, that's harder to control than commuter
cut-through because they are going to traverse that road a lot more
often."

There were other streets discussed at the
meeting as well, the council president said.

"We went over all these concerns with (the
administration and police chief), and we are awaiting their
recommendations on what can be done for all these streets," said
McCloskey.

An Enforcement
Issue

"We really believe that the only solution is
greater enforcement," said Feyl. "It takes the police to identify
how they are going to enforce it."

Feyl pointed out most of the speeding
drivers could well be fellow neighbors and the situation is made
more difficult by on-street parking.

"The other thing we are considering is
looking at all lake communities and imposing a 20 mile per hour
speed limit," said Feyl.

One of the problems in reducing the speed
limit is that stop signs, speed bumps, or any other fixtures cannot
be placed on any road in Denville unless they meet the engineering
guidelines set forth by the state Department of Transportation.
These guidelines include reduced speed limit signs, Feyl
explained.

"We can't do anything without their approval
because it's not enforceable," said Feyl. "It takes a little bit
longer, but we want state approval before we take any
positions."

The typical time frame for acquiring state
approval, if the board receives it, is between a month and 45 days,
according to Feyl. He said the council is moving in that direction
and should have more answers by the December work session on
Tuesday, Dec. 12.

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